Post-mix beverage dispensers are widely used in restaurants, food stores and other retail establishments to provide self-service dispensing of a wide variety of carbonated and non-carbonated beverages. In a typical installation, a dispenser tower, merchandiser housing or other large unit has numerous pour stations. Each pour station may be assigned to a particular beverage and have fluid lines connecting the pour station to a source of a chilled diluent (e.g., water or carbonated water) and to a source of syrup or some other type of concentrated fluid for the assigned beverage. A customer uses a pour station by pressing a manual button or by pushing a cup against a cup-sensing lever. This actuates a pump motor and/or valve(s) so as to mix the diluent and beverage concentrate and deliver a beverage from a nozzle of the pour station.
On occasion, it is desirable to reconfigure a pour station of a post-mix beverage dispenser so that a different beverage is dispensed. As but one example, a first beverage dispensed from a first pour station might be in high demand, but a second beverage dispensed from a second pour station may be much less popular. It might thus be more profitable to forego sales of the second beverage and dispense the first beverage from both the first and second pour stations. Reconfiguring a pour station to dispense a different beverage can be time consuming, however. Different beverage concentrates have different viscosities and/or may require different ratios of concentrate to diluent for a dispensed beverage. These differences can require that pumps or other components in the pour station be adjusted based on the specific concentrate to be used. Some beverages may require a different diluent than other beverages (e.g., carbonated water vs. non-carbonated water) and thus require appropriate adjustment to mix the new beverage concentrate with the correct diluent. It may also be necessary to clean the fluid path(s) associated with a pour station when reconfiguring that station to dispense a different beverage. In addition to sanitary concerns, cross contamination between the old and new beverage concentrate can adversely affect product quality. For example, the old beverage may be dark in color, but the new beverage may be clear. Remnants of the old beverage concentrate in the fluid flow path can discolor the new beverage.
Conventionally, changing the beverage dispensed at a particular pour station has often required that a business schedule a service call from a dispenser technician. In addition to costs that may be associated with such a service call, a technician may not be available for a day or more. Delay in reconfiguring a dispenser pour station can result in lost profits to the business.